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Time Magazine has come out with what they deem to be the 10 essential websites.

According to Time, despite repeated attempts to compromise its integrity, Wikipedia remains the most popular online encyclopedia on the Web. Since anyone can create or edit a Wikipedia page, both companies and individuals have been caught airbrushing and embellishing their own entries. Students site from Wikipedia despite the better judgment of instructors. However, you would be hard pressed to find anyone under the age of 23 who doesn't Wikipedia or Google something before they do about anything.

A haven for armchair investors and money junkies, Yahoo! Finance has everything you need to keep up with business — news, stock-specific research, charts, even press releases. In late May, Yahoo! Finance became the first major finance site to resume free real-time quotes instead of the standard 20-minute-delayed quotes on rivals like Google Finance and MSN Money

Looking to buy or sell something- without the auction element? Craigslist is a Web pioneer that will never go stale, and remains the essential site for want ads ranging from real estate and used furniture to jobs, romance and one-night stands. Craigslist launched in 100 additional cities this spring, making the site's services available in over 500 cities in 50 countries. To stay ahead of other newcomers with a strong international presence — including Kijiji, Oodle and OLX — the venerable Craigslist now makes its listings available in Spanish, French, Italian and German in some cities.

ESPN is synonymous with sports. Die-hard fans come straight to this ESPN for scores, schedules and analysis, then hang around for the video highlights, games and podcasts. Over the past year, ESPN has beefed up its fantasy sports league offerings and high school football coverage, and it's now pulling in news from college fan sites too. If it's a restaurant, shop or business, it's probably been reviewed on Yelp — an independent site with millions of user-submitted evaluations. Yelp's got a gaggle of rivals — most notably Yahoo! Local — but it's the only one that lets reviewees talk back. After businesses c

If MySpace has more users. Facebook is classier and cleaner in design. Facebook also makes it super easy to find people you know, and it has won more fans among professionals and the thirtysomething crowd. The site has more than 30,000 add-on applications . If you're on the hunt for new social networks to ply, check out upstarts Bebo and hi5.

Say you stumble across a news story you like. You "Digg" it, by clicking a link at the end of the story. The more people who Digg the same story, the higher it rises in the popularity ranking on Digg.com, where other Diggers can read and comment on it.

Much more than a search site, Google is taking over the internet, with good reason. Google Docs offers free spreadsheets, word processing and presentations. Photo-based Google Earth now operates inside a browser plug-in, no longer requiring a lengthy download to your desktop. You can even run Google on your mobile phone, including the iPhone. Next Google wants to help you get more out of your online social networks: its Friend Connect system, due out later this year, will make it easier to interact with your network contacts, even on remote sites.

Sure, it's tacky, rude and unreliable, but TMZ is the most popular gossip site on the Web because it is chock-full of juicy celebrity tidbits, photos and videos.

FTC: Your Rights: Credit Reporting

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights under the FCRA and how to order a free annual credit report.

A credit report includes information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting companies sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home.

When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, like the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

A Warning About "Imposter" Sites

The FTC advises consumers who order their free annual credit reports online to be sure to correctly spell annualcreditreport.com, or link to it from the FTC's website to avoid being misdirected to other websites that offer supposedly free reports,but only with the purchase of other products. While consumers may be offered additional products or services while on the authorized website, they are not required to make a purchase to receive their free annual credit reports.

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Top 10 Consumer Complaints

According to the FTC, for the eighth year in a row, identity theft is the number one consumer complaint category. Of 813,899 total complaints received in 2007, 258,427, or 32 percent, were related to identity theft.

Consumers reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.2 billion; the median monetary loss per person was $349, the report states.